Protestantism
Protestantism |
Waldensians (France/Germany/Italy)
Anabaptism
Puritanism
Revivalism
Restoration movement |
Protestantism encompasses the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated with the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. The word Protestant is derived from the Latin protestatio, meaning declaration. It refers to the letter of protestation by Lutheran princes against the decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which reaffirmed the edict of the Diet of Worms condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heresy. Since that time, the term Protestantism has been used in several different senses, often as a general term to refer to Western Christianity that is not subject to papal authority, including some traditions that were not part of the Protestant movement.
Protestants may be generally divided among four basic groups: the "mainline" churches with direct roots in the Protestant reformers, the Radical Reform movement emphasizing adult baptism, nontrinitarian churches, and the Restorationist movements of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Various denominations exist within group, and not every denomination fits neatly into these categories.
Mainline Protestants share a rejection of the authority of the Roman pope and generally deny the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, although they disagree among themselves about the doctrine of Christ's presence in the Eucharist. They emphasize the priesthood of all believers, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and a belief in the Bible, rather than Catholic tradition, as the legitimate source of faith. However, there is substantial disagreement among the Protestant groups about the interpretation of these principles and not all groups generally characterized as Protestant adhere to them entirely.
The number of Protestant denominations is estimated to be in the thousands, and attempts at unification through various ecumenical movements have not kept pace with the tendency of groups to divide or new ones to develop. The total number of Protestants in the world today is estimated at around 600 million.
Major groupings
The churches most commonly associated with Protestantism can be divided along four fairly definitive lines:
- Mainline Protestants—a North American phrase—are those who trace their lineage to Luther, Calvin, or Anglicanism. They uphold the traditionaldoctrines of the Reformation outlined above and include such denominations as Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Methodists, and many Evangelicals.
- Anabaptists are a movement that developed from the Radical Reformation, which promoted the doctrine of believer's baptism. Today, this category includes denominations such as Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists, Brethren, Mennonites and Amish.
- Nontrinitarian movements reject the doctrine of the trinity. Today, they include such denominations as the Christian Scientists, Unitarians, Universalists, and many Quakers.
- Restorationists emphasize the concept of a direct renewal of God's church rather than a reformation of an existing tradition. They include fairly mainline faiths like the Churches of Christ and Disciples of Christ, as such more controversial denominations as the Latter-day Saints, Seventh Day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Denominations
Protestants often refer to specific Protestant churches and groups as denominations to imply that they are differently named parts of the whole church. The term also is used as an alternative to "sect," which has a negative connotation in some countries, similar to "cult." Some denominations are less accepting of others, and the basic orthodoxy of some is often questioned by the others, as well as by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Individual denominations have formed over very subtle theological differences, while denominations are simply regional or ethnic expressions of a larger denomination tradition. The actual number of distinct denominations is hard to calculate, but has been estimated in the thousands. Various ecumenical movements have attempted cooperation or reorganization of Protestant churches according to various models of union, but divisions continue to outpace unions.
There are an estimated 590 million Protestants worldwide. These include 170 million in North America, 160 million in Africa, 120 million in Europe, 70 million in Latin America, 60 million in Asia, and 10 million in Oceania. Nearly 27 percent of the 2.1 billion Christians in the world are Protestants.
Denominational families include the following:
- Adventists
- Anabaptist
- Anglican/Episcopalian
- Baptist
- Calvinist
- Congregational
- Lutheran
- Methodist/Wesleyan
- Non-denominational
- Pentecostal
- Plymouth Brethren
- Presbyterian
- Quakerism
- Reformed
- Restoration movement
- Unitarian
Mainline Protestant theology
Mainline Protestantism emerged out of the Reformation's separation from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, based on a theology which came to be characters as the Five Solas. These five Latin phrases (or slogans) summarize the Reformers' basic theological beliefs in contradistinction to the Catholic teaching of the day. The Latin word sola means "alone" or "only," in English. The five solas were what the Reformers believed to be the only things needed for salvation. This formulation was intended to distinguish between what were viewed as deviations in the Christian church and the essentials of Christian life and practice.
- Solus Christus: Christ alone.
- Christ is the only mediator between God and man, affirmed in oppostion to the Catholic dogma of the pope as Christ's representative on earth of a "treasury" of the merits of saints.
- Sola scriptura: Scripture alone.
- The Bible alone is the basis of sound Christian doctrine.
- Sola fide: Faith alone.
- While practicing good works attests to one's faith in Christ and his teachings, faith in Christ is the only means of salvation.
- Sola gratia: Grace alone.
- Salvation is entirely the act of God, based on the redemptive suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Since no one deserves salvation, the believer is accepted without any regard for the merit of his works or character.
- Soli Deo gloria: Glory to God alone
- All glory is due to God alone, and not to human beings or the institutions they create, even in God's name.
Real presence in the Lord's Supper
The Protestant movement began to coalesce into several distinct branches in the mid-to-late sixteenth century. One of the central points of divergence was controversy over the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist.
Early Protestants generally rejected the Roman Catholic dogma of transubstantiation, which teaches that the bread and wine used in the of the Mass are literally transformed into the body and blood of Christ. However, they disagreed with one another concerning the manner in which Christ is present in Holy Communion.
- Lutherans hold to the idea of consubstantiation, which affirms the physical presence of Christ's body "in, with, and under" the consecrated bread and wine, but rejects the idea that the bread and wine stop being bread and wine.
- Calvinists affirm that Christ is present to the believer with rather than in the elements of the Eucharist. Christ presents himself through faith—the Eucharist being an outward and visible aid, which is often referred to as dynamic presence of Christ, as opposed the Lutheran real presence.
- Anglicans recognize Christ's presence in the Eucharist in a variety of ways depending on specific denominational, diocesan, and parochial emphasis—ranging from acceptance of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, through the Lutheran position, to more Calvinistic notions.
- Many Protestants do not define the issue precisely, seeing the elements of the Lord's Supper as a symbol of the shared faith of the participants and a reminder of their standing together as the Body of Christ.
'Catholicity'
The concept of a catholic, or universal, church was not brushed aside during the Protestant Reformation. Indeed, visible unity of the universal church was an important doctrine for the Reformers. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli all believed that they were reforming a corrupt and heretical Catholic Church, and each of them took seriously the charges of schism and "innovation."
Wherever the Reformation succeeded, the result was a reformed national church envisioned to be a part of the whole visible "Holy Catholic Church" described in the traditional Christian creeds, but disagreeing in certain important points of doctrine and practice with what had been considered the norm. The reformed churches thus believed in a form of catholicity, founded on their doctrines of the five solas and a visible ecclesiastical organization based on the fourteenth and fifteenth century conciliar movement, rejecting the papacy and papal infallibility in favor of ecumenical councils, but rejecting the Council of Trent, which was organized under the auspices of Rome.
Today there is a growing movement of Protestants that reject the designation "Protestant" because of its negative "anti-catholic" connotations, preferring the designation "Reformed," "Evangelical" or other designations.
Othe types of Protestanism
Radical Reformation
Unlike mainstream Evangelical (Lutheran), Reformed (Zwinglian and Calvinist) Protestant movements, the Radical Reformation had no state sponsorship and generally abandoned the idea of the "visible church" as distinct from the true, or invisible body or authentic believers. For them, the church might consist of a small community of believers, who were the true "elect" saints of God.
A key concept for the Radical Reformation was "believer's baptism", which implied that only those who had reached the age of reason and could affirm for themselves their faith in Christ could be baptized. By thus rejecting the practice of infant baptism, they were declared heretics by mainline Protestants and Catholics alike, and often faced brutal persecution as a result. These were the Anabaptists of Europe, some of whom came to America and formed the Mennonite and Amish denominations, as well as the Baptists of England and America.
Pietism and Methodism
The German Pietist movement, together with the influence of the Puritan Reformation in England in the seventeenth century, were important influences upon John Wesley and Methodism, as well as through smaller, new groups such as the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers") and the Moravian Brethren from Herrnhut, Saxony, Germany.
The practice of a spiritual life, typically combined with social engagement, predominates in classical Pietism, which was a protest against the doctrine-centeredness Protestant Orthodoxy of the times, in favor of depth of religious experience. Many of the more conservative Methodists went on to form the Holiness movement, which emphasized a rigorous experience of holiness in practical, daily life.
Evangelicalism
Beginning at the end of eighteenth century, several international revivals of Pietism (such as the Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening) took place across denominational lines. These formed was is generally referred to as the Evangelical movement. The chief emphases of this movement are individual conversion, personal piety and Bible study, public morality, a de-emphasis on formalism in worship and in doctrine, a broadened role for laity (including women), and cooperation in evangelism across denominational lines. Some mainline and Baptist denominations are included in this category.
In reaction to Biblical criticism and increasing liberalism in the mainline denominations, Christian Fundamentalism arose in the twentieth century, primarily in the United States and Canada among those denominations most affected by Evangelicalism. Christian Fundamentalism places primary emphasis on the authority and inerrancy of the Bible, an holds firmly to "fundamental" theological doctrines such as the Virgin Birth and Second Coming of Christ on the clouds.
Nontrinitarian movements
The most prominent nontrinitarian denomination today are the Unitarians, Christian Scientists, and Quakers. Unitarian beliefs were expressed by some of the early reformers in Europe, but their views were condemned by other reformers. It grew as a persecuted minority in such placed as Poland, Transylvania, the British Isles and the United States. American Unitarian Association was formed in Boston in 1825.
Quakerism is not expressly anti-trinitarian in doctrine, but most Quakers today are not trinitarians. Christian Science defines teachings a non-traditional idea of the Trinity: "God the Father-Mother, Christ the spiritual idea of sonship, and thridly divine Science or the Holy Comforter." Universalism accepts both trinitarian and nontrintarian beliefs and is sometime denominationally united with Unitarianism. The Jehovah's Witnesses are another expressly nontrinitarian group, but fall more properly into the category of a Restorationist movement. Other more recent nontrinitarian movements have emerged in the twentieth century. For example, the Unification Church holds a non-traditional idea of the Trinity, seeing God as both male and female, Jesus representing God's masculinity, and the Holy Spirit representing God's femininity.
Mainline and Evangelical Christians often reject nontrinitarian Christians on the grounds that the traditional doctrine of the Trinity is essential to Christian faith.
Restorationists
Strictly speaking, the Restoration Movement is a Christian reform movement that arose in the United States during the Second Great Awakening in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It emphasized the idea that the Christian church has been renewed.
The doctrinal differences among these groups can sometimes be very large they include, among others the Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and Christadelphians. Later manifestations include the Latter Day Saints, Seventh Day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism began in the United States early in the twentieth century, starting especially within the Holiness movement, seeking a return to the operation of New Testament gifts of the Holy Spirit and emphasizing speaking in tongues as evidence of the "baptism of the Holy Ghost." Divine healing and miracles were also emphasized. Pentecostalism eventually spawned hundreds of new denominations in the United States and elsewhere. A later "charismatic" movement also stressed the gifts of the Spirit, but often operated within existing denominations, including even the Catholic Church.
Liberal and and neo-orthodox theology
Mainline Protestant theology went through dramatic changes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when liberal theology emerged in the wake of advances in biblical criticism, the history of religions movement, and archaeology. German theologians like Friedrich Schleiermacher, Albrecht Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack led a movement in which Jesus was seen more as a teacher and example of moral virtue and compassion than a savior. The American Horace Bushnell also represented and later Walter Rauschenbusch, developed in the Social Gospel movement.
Beginning in 1918 the Germans Karl Barth and Emil Brunner reacted against this trend through what became known as Neoorthodoxy, while the American Reinhold Niebuhr exposed the failures of liberal theology as applied to society and politics. Rudolf Bultmann, meanwhile sought to uncover the core truths truth of faith through "demythologization."
By the 1960s, Protestant theology faced a crisis with various movement emerging, among them the theology of hope, radical theology, process theology, feminist theology, and Protestant liberation theology.
Ecumenism
Various attempt to unite the increasingly diverse traditions within Protestantism have met with limited success. The ecumenical movement has had an influence primarily on mainline churches, beginning by 1910 with the Edinburgh Missionary Conference. Its origins lay in the recognition of the need for cooperation on the mission field in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Since 1948, the World Council of Churches has been influential. There are also ecumenical bodies at regional, national and local levels across the globe. There has been a strong engagement of Orthodox churches in the ecumenical movement. The ecumenical movement has also made progress in bringing together Catholic, Orthodox and Protest Churches.
One expression of the ecumenical movement, has been the move to form united churches, such as the US-based United Church of Christ, which brought together the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. Similar unions took place through the formation of the United Church of Canada, the Uniting Church in Australia, the Church of South India, and the Church of North India.
See also
- Anabaptists
- Anglicanism
- Baptist Church
- Calvinism
- Congregationalism
- Christian Science
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Jehovah's Wintesses
- Lutheranism
- Methodism
- Pentecostalism
- Presbyterianism
- Quakerism
- Reformed churches
- Seventh Day Adventists
- Unitarianism
- Unification Church
External links
- Introduction to Protestantism
- Is Sola Scriptura a Protestant Concoction?
- Catholic Encyclopedia: "Protestantism" - '. Retrieved November 16, 2007.
- The Future of American Protestantism
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